


Nicotine

by kingpeacock



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, everyone lives au, office!AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 20:49:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21125036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kingpeacock/pseuds/kingpeacock
Summary: “Why won’t Yut Lung just come and stay at mine?” Shorter wonders, then finds out. Unadulterated cute fluff.





	Nicotine

“Because it’s... It’s...” 

Shorter Wong’s eyebrow was raised so high he thought it might have touched his hairline. Admittedly, he liked it when his fuck-buddy-are-we-dating?, Yut Lung Lee, was lost for words, because it just didn’t happen very often, and so Shorter let him swing and stumble over his words without interference.

“It’s?” Shorter pressed, rolling onto his stomach and looking up at Yut Lung. Was Yut Lung... Blushing? Oh he definitely was, and Shorter was loving it. Even his ears were red.

It takes a certain kind of man to be lying in silk bedsheets assbutt naked, wearing a pair of sunglasses and teasing the man you just fucked ragged while he had literal armed guards outside. And that kind of man was exactly who Shorter Wong was.

Of course, it oversimplified their relationship if the silk sheets were all a casual observer was to take note of. Shorter worked for the Lee Company, just a midlevel sales administrator with zero opportunity to deal with clients and mountains of paperwork awaiting every morning, and Yut Lung was more than just on the Board - he was fourth in line to inherit the company.

Their relationship was the worst-best kept secret in the company. Their little secret trysts in the server room were widely known to have happened, and happened a lot, but it just wouldn’t do if the general public knew a Lee was shacking up with someone paid less than $30k and who still couldn’t afford health insurance.

Imagine the tabloids.

Oh, Shorter had imagined them, but he’d also both wanted to keep his job and keep his fuck-buddy in Yut Lung. Though Yut Lung was considered the coldest of all the board members, the most cutthroat in business and the man who ran the tightest ship, Shorter knew that he appreciated morning blowjobs and was an absolute power bottom.

It made meetings all the sweeter.

Their ‘working late’ almost always ended with them in Yut Lung’s silk bedding, Shorter sloppily sleeping there then making himself presentable before going to work. Then, they’d do it all over again, but the bedsheets would be fresh and Shorter would make a mess of them all over again.

Tonight was no different. Shorter had been finishing up filing some paperwork - having piercings and purple hair, he’d had to prove himself a lot more than most at his level - when Yut Lung slinked into his tiny office like a black jaguar. Of course, Shorter feigned a professional interest, but of course, his paperwork was discarded for tomorrow, and he was taken in the private elevator to Yut Lung’s apartment. 

The whole place was glass walled, but the tower block the Lee family operated on was both enormous, dwarfing others around it, but also featured mirrored, tempered glass. Handy, really - one drunken evening, he’d fucked Yut Lung up against the glass, and it had held admirably.

The usual had happened. They’d pretended that, just today, they wouldn’t have sex, but within two minutes Yut Lung was in Shorter’s lap and they were pulling each others clothes off, dumping them on the floor.

When they were done, they just laid in Yut Lung’s expansive bed, Yut Lung using Shorter’s strong chest as a pillow and Shorter gently stroking through those impossibly soft locks of hair, and Shorter asked Yut Lung to come back to his place sometime.

Shorter was lucky, in that his apartment was both close to work (two stops on the subway), cheap enough he could afford important stuff like, uh, food, and big enough that his roommate and best friend lived there with his boyfriend. The three of them, Shorter, Ash and Eiji, kept the place neat, tidy and decorated, covering the bills and food with their combined pay checks and still having a little money left at the end.

Shorter, after his love affair with Yut Lung started, had gone out of his way and spent his Christmas bonus on a new bed and beautiful Egyptian cotton sheets, but it was July and they still hadn’t made it back to his place, even after Yut Lung promising that they would. There was always an excuse, but Shorter was prepared this time.

“If it’s because my place is too tacky for you, just say,” Shorter said, not bothering to hide the fact that Yut Lung’s reasons or excuses were getting to him, “Ash and Eiji will be out if I ask, so don’t say they’re your excuse.“

Yut Lung looked up at Shorter. It was one of the first times he’d heard Shorter speak to him with such a disappointed, dull tone, and the way he said it really struck a cord with Yut Lung. “I never make excuses,” he corrected, leaning his chin on Shorter’s chest, “I give reasons. And besides, I can say the same to you. Is my apartment not enough for you? Too humble a dwelling for Shorter Wong?”

Shorter rolled his eyes then made to move, an action stilled by Yut Lung’s band. “That ain’t-“

“Isn’t.”

“Ugh... isn’t it, and you know it. I just want to share my bed with you for once, instead of always sharing yours. Plus, I’d appreciate the guards not checking out my ass when I leave, y’know?” Shorter made light of the whole conversation, but the words didn’t have his usual gentle light humour to them, instead sounding dull and forced. It did hurt his feelings that Yut Lung wouldn’t come to his, but honestly? He’d get over it. Probably.

Yut Lung, for his part, sat up, resting his chin on his hands and looking up at Shorter. “Why is this so important to you?” he asked, a perfectly coiffed eyebrow arching upwards.

“It’s... Like you’re ashamed of me. You hide me away up here but... I don’t hide you away at home. I never have,” Shorter replied, brushing loose hairs out of Yut Lung’s face.

Yut Lung sighed. It wasn’t a case of being ashamed, not really - he wasn’t, and he truly had come to care for Shorter, but his brothers were quick to cut people off from the money and quicker still to public humiliation. He would be left with nothing if he and Shorter went official, and though it hurt him to acknowledge, he wasn’t willing to give everything up in the name of love just yet.

As he lay on Shorter’s chest, those big strong hands more suited to boxing than kindness combing through his hair, Yut Lung found that he was almost willing to give his name and his life up to be with Shorter. “I am not ashamed of you, because the shame isn’t about you. Our family has expectations, and I do not fulfil them, and I definitely would not fulfil them if I was with a man.”

Shorter abruptly pulled himself away and stood up, casting around for his clothes and pulling them on. Yut Lung sat up, pulling the sheets protectively around himself like a shield between his body and Shorter’s anger. “Where are you going?”

Shorter, pulling his work slacks on first, then his shirt, buttoning it up then sliding into his shoes, didn’t answer until he’d finished dressing. Yut Lung merely watched him, a mixture of confused and concerned, sitting up in the bed and covering himself with the top sheet like a protective blanket. “Home. I can be an embarrassment in my own bed, I don’t need silk bedding to be shamed in,” Shorter said, sitting on the chaise long to tie his shoes up.

He left without a backwards look or another word.

It stung. Being told they’d never be anything publicly because he was a man? Shorter hated it. Come on, it’s 2019! Being gay wasn’t even news anymore. As for his family? Fuck ‘em. Shorter would be Yut Lung’s family, he’d be anything and everything to him. 

But Shorter knew that wouldn’t be enough for a man like Yut Lung.

The two subway stops went past so quickly, Shorter almost missed his stop. He walked down the platform and out, heading home, his head down and hands in his slacks pockets. He shoved through the door, tossing his blazer on the hook and barely acknowledging anyone in the room until Ash stood in front of him and stopped him in his tracks.

“Shorter! What the hell, man?” Shorter half-startled and looked up at Ash, not covering the sadness in his face. “What did that rich bitch do?”

“Ash!“ Eiji’s interjection made both the other men jump.

“He is a rich bitch and if he’s done something to Shorter, I’mma put laxatives in his tea.” Eiji snorted in amusement, and even Shorter couldn’t hold back a small smile. You could always rely on Ash to plot revenge on anyone who crossed his family, and that’s what they all were. A family, just against the world.

Ash was a researcher, history mainly but he was dabbling in linguistics, while Eiji was a student studying American history having flown over from Japan to study. Ash and Eiji were in love, Shorter was a close friend of Ash, and it just made sense for the three of them to live together. 

Once beer had been obtained, he told Ash and Eiji everything. Absolutely everything. Ash suggested kidnapping Yut Lung with nonspecific aims, while Eiji, ever the romantic, suggested an elopement where they could both just leave. 

Honestly? Shorter had considered it. Just packing their shit up and running away together, where they could just exist and live however they wanted without his family constant butting their noses where they weren’t wanted. But Yut Lung wasn’t the running away type, especially not with the possibility of a share in $4 billion when his father died.

Shorter couldn’t blame him, but how badly he wished they’d just risk it and go couldn’t be understated.

The rest of the evening was drinking, chatting, more drinking, then sleep eventually. Shorter slept in his clothes, so when he woke up he had to completely change ready for work including putting his suit out to be dry cleaned. A waste of money, honestly.

He travelled to work with a heavy weight in his stomach. He dreaded the team meeting - Yut Lung was there, of course, in a red silk shirt, unbuttoned just enough to draw looks, his hair drawn into a plait and his whole demeanour cool as ever. Shorter had to work exceptionally hard to keep his eyes off him, but was successful as one could be.

Later, when he was sat in his office, Yut Lung dropped by, the usual cat like smirk on his face, and he shut the door behind him. Shorter barely looked up, and said, “I’ll have the April report typed and filed by the end of the day, Mr Lee.”

Yut Lung paused, before he replied, “I’m not here about...” Another pause, then he added, “Why did you leave last night?”

“I went somewhere no one is ashamed to be seen with me.” Shorter let his words hang in the air awkwardly, continuing on typing as he waited for the reply.

“I... See.” Yut Lung sighed, then turned on his heel and left without another word.

Shorter felt sick. It was only ever supposed to be sex, never anything more than that. It was his own fault for becoming attached, and now he had no choice but to quit the drug called Yut Lung and move on.

~*~*~*~

Knock knock.

“What the fuck.... it’s 7am... on a Saturday....” Shorter sat up enough to look at his alarm clock and tell the time, then flopped back into bed. Ash and Eiji had gone upstate for a long weekend, so there was no one else in the apartment, which meant it was probably a delivery.

Shorter crawled out of bed, pulling on some jogging pants and scruffing his Mohawk back up, trying to look vaguely presentable before he opened the door.

And promptly found his jaw hanging open.

Yut Lung stood there, an absolute vision in this year’s Versace camel coloured coat, over a Saville Row pair of chinos and probably a Polo Ralph Lauren shirt, a leather bag over one shoulder and a brown paper bag in his hand. “Good morning, Shorter,” he said with a smile, sounding at least a little contrite for their previous disagreement.

“Uh... Hi?”

Yut Lung laughed softly at Shorter’s response, a laugh that actually truly met his eyes. “Hi. May I come in?”

Shorter stepped back, holding the door wider open for Yut Lung to walk in, then kicked it closed behind them both. He leaned on his kitchen counter, still both trying to wake up and process the fact that Yut Lung was currently standing in his living room and looking at the photographs on the wall. All of them were taken by either Eiji or Shorter, but they featured every thing from animals and architecture to selfies and even a group picture at the top of the Empire State Building. “I ain’t being.... I’m not being rude, but why’re you here?”

Yut Lung looked around, turning back to look at Shorter, “Oh, I looked up your address on the HR system. This is quite a nice place, you know.”

“That’s how you’re here. Why’re you here. What if one of your precious brothers catches wind of this?” Shorter retorted cruelly, hating himself a little for sounding so unkind. It just really wasn’t like him, it sounded alien coming from his mouth.

Yut Lung didn’t let the comment phase him - he was used to cruelty - but it did sting slightly, hearing it from Shorter rather than someone he hated. “I owe you a sleepover, don’t I?”

“If you’re here to placate me, don’t bother. It’s fine, it’s done, you can go,” Shorter responded, sounding tired and downbeaten, “I’ll see you on Monday.”

Yut Lung responded by putting his bags down and shrugging out of his jacket, hanging it up in the hallway like he lived there, then sitting on the couch. “I don’t placate people, and I don’t beg, or crawl.” Yut Lung’s eyes dipped down, looking at his perfectly manicured nails for imperfections, “But... I am also not so proud as to presume I am without fault.” He looked over at Shorter, a genuine look of remorse on his face, “In this scenario, I am... Wrong.”

Shorter must have looked like a charicature right then, as he boggled at Yut Lung in absolute shock. He tried to keep it together, remain impassive and cool, but he was sure it showed anyway. His face was always an open book, his whole life, and adulthood hadn’t taken that away.

“I am wrong, but you are, too,” Yut Lung replied, and Shorter didn’t hold back the ‘aha!’ look on his face. Yut Lung put a hand up to stop him speaking, “Because it’s not you I’m ashamed of, and it never has been. It’s myself, my... Family, everything. I’m ashamed of being the bastard child of a man too old to even remember who I am, and I’m ashamed of my shame.”

Shorter was absolutely stunned. Yut Lung was being so sincere, so honest and open, that for the first time in their short relationship, Shorter actually believed he was being thoroughly honest.

“So, I’m sorry. I... Also paid for your roommates to go upstate for the weekend.”

Shorter rolled his eyes, “You paid them off?”

“Actually just the Japanese one. He’s far too trusting.”

Oh shit. “I... Jesus fuckin Christ, Yut Lung, you... You couldn’t have just come around when they were around?” Shorter asked, rubbing his eyes tiredly, “You can’t just pay off the help when they’re inconvenient.”

Yut Lung stood and walked over to Shorter, getting close but not too close. “They aren’t inconvenient, but I didn’t want them here to watch us fight and argue. More shame, I know, but it just isn’t my way.”

Shorter tried to argue, then snorted a laugh, “No, I guess you aren’t into public brawlin. Coffee?”

“Is it fresh or instant?”

“It’s instant, you fancy asshole.”

“Oh! Is it Nescafé?”

Shorter looked genuinely surprised, “Uhhh... Yeah it is. Do you... know what Nescafé is?” He half expected Yut Lung to say he’d googled it on his way over.

“Yes, everyone knows what Nescafé is. I had it when I was travelling in Europe,” Yut Lung corrected, hopping up on the kitchen counter to watch Shorter make the coffee. He’d noticed Shorter’s bare chest, the way the slacks hugged his narrow hips, but kept his eyes on the coffee manufacturing. 

Yut Lung would never admit it, but he’d missed Shorter, oh so much.

“Jee, you’re the only guy who ‘I tried it when I was travelling through Europe’ Actually makes sound humble,” Shorter teased, brewing the two cups and handing Yut Lung the nicer of the two. “My house is nothing like yours, I’m afraid.”

Yut Lung sipped his coffee, then slid off the counter and started walking around the room. It wasn’t anything special, but there was fresh light green paint on the walls, a number pictures and photographs, and a whole wall dedicated to books. The TV was hidden behind a cupboard door, which was painted to fit in with the bookshelf by Shorter in a spare evening after they’d moved in, and the kitchen and lounge room were all open plan, making a light, airy space. 

He moved onto the only bedroom whose door was open, which was clearly Shorter’s room. It was neat, aside from the pile of clothes in the corner that would be going to the laundrette later and Shorter’s keys and phone in a tangle on a chest of drawers. The wardrobe was fitted into the alcove by the window, and there was a bench seat under the window, with a view over the city.

Yut Lung slowly, almost reverently, sat on Shorter’s bed, perching on one side. It was a king size bed, all treated pine and white sheets, with a thick, cosy comforter as the top cover and plenty expensive, fluffy pillows. He smiled: it was just how he’d pictured it would be, and it smelled wonderful.

“It’s new. Well, kinda, I got it at Christmas. Figured you’d need somewhere to sleep, if you ever came over,” Shorter said from where he leaned in the doorway, “Ash picked the bedding, said it had a low... or high thread count. I don’t remember, it was expensive.”

Yut Lung toed out of his expensive deck shoes, tipped backwards on the bed and rolled himself up in the duvet, an almost childlike grin on his face as he was bathed in the smell of Shorter Wong. “It’s a high thread count, and it’s wonderful.” He looked at Shorter and unrolled himself, straightening the bedding out neatly before he settled on it again.

“Uh... It is?” Shorter moved over and sat down on the bed, to which Yut Lung instantly crawled over to him and sat next to him.

“It really is,” Yut Lung replied, looking up at the taller man through his eyelashes. “Maybe I shouldn’t have written this off as a lovepad before, Hm?”

Shorter couldn’t hold back the laugh, “Well, you’re the first person to be in the bed aside from me, so I guess you’re christening it.”

Yut Lung laughed softly, then nudged Shorter’s shoulder with his own, “Well, this is a very disappointing christening ceremony.” With one catlike movement, Yut Lung was in Shorter’s lap, his hands in the near-untameable Mohawk that just wouldn’t stand up right this morning. “We should do this properly, no?”

“Oh should we?” Shorter replied with an air of one merely considering his Subway order, “I’d hate to make a mess when there’s no room service.”

Yut Lung couldn’t help but at least chuckle at that. So typical of Shorter to have no problem messing up silk and rich cotton sheets at his place, but if Shorter would have to do the laundry? Well, there was a line, right? “Then fuck me in the shower.”

Yut Lung’s reply took Shorter completely by surprised, so at first his response was little more than a barked, louder-than-intended laugh. Yut Lung could talk so pretty, but he could also talk so filthy, and Shorter was not complaining about this development. “Fucking you in the shower defeats the object of, y’know, christening the bed.”

Yut Lung sighed theatrically, rocking his hips against Shorter, both of them hard already given their conversation and current seating arrangements. “Then you’ll have to teach me how to use a laundry machine afterwards,” he purred, leaning down to kiss Shorter and stop the stupid comment from coming out of his mouth at the source.

Shorter worked on finding the bottom edge of Yut Lung’s shirt, pulling it out of his slacks and tugging the shirt up and over his head. Yut Lung raised an eyebrow at him, an unspoken instruction to get their clothes off with all haste, which of course Shorter obliged to.

Topping from the bottom was Yut Lung’s special skill, among a few others, and Shorter was clever enough to know that playing along both felt good and was always fun.

Once both their clothes were in piles on the floor (and Yut Lung had his comment about creases kissed out of his mouth by Shorter), Shorter pinned Yut Lung to the bed by his hips and his hands, his larger body easily covering Yut Lung’s. Yut Lung had a real thing for being held down, close, body heat shared, every breath and shiver and shudder broadcast to the both of them, and Shorter loved it just as much. Yut Lung smelled like expensive oils, more expensive aftershave and a very specific coconut shampoo that Shorter was banned from using ever, so as Shorter assailed Yut Lung’s neck, he breathed it all in.

Their bodies just fit together after all this time. Shorter’s more muscular physique seemed to curve in all the right ways to accommodate Yut Lung’s sharp, bony edges, hands caught together and pinned to the bed just fit like two halves of a whole, and it was enough to drive them both wild.

Shorter rolled his hips, eliciting a sharp, loud moan from Yut Lung. Neither of them were going to last long, but fuck it, who cared? 

Shorter released his weight against Yut Lung’s hips and caught both Yut Lung’s hands in his, lacing their hands together and kissing him again. He rocked their hips together gently, just a slow, comfortable, lazy rhythm, enjoying the low moans from Yut Lung and the way his fingers tightened into Shorter’s hands, nails digging in, tiny bruises left behind.

Usually, they were on a deadline. In 18 minutes, they had a meeting to attend! But not today. Today they could be lazy, slow, hot, full of kisses and touches and hips that can’t help but move against each other.

His expensive sheets would definitely need washing.

Yut Lung, surprisingly, came first - normally much more reserved, he enjoyed watching Shorter’s face, teasing his overstimulated body for as long as possible, but not today. Today, Shorter got to watch, enjoying the way Yut Lung’s perfectly preened face squished up, his hair falling into his eyes, unable to cry out because Shorter's mouth covered his. 

Not that he enjoyed it long, before Shorter dropped his head against Yut Lung’s shoulder and mumbled his name like a prayer (interspersed with expletives) as he, too, came, messing the pair of them up royally.

After he’d caught his breath, he slowly relaxed down against Yut Lung, letting his weight rest on him and leaning up on his elbows. “They’re cotton, not silk, but I enjoyed fucking wrecking you in them anyway.”

There was a pause where Yut Lung considered an abrupt retort to that, but he had little energy for it, so he just laughed, and said, “Mm, they’ll do.”


End file.
